Hello folks. I am new to laser engraving and recently purchased an Atomstack A5 pro. After some trial and error I was able to get it recognized on my Macbook pro (Big Sur).
Before I turn on the atomstack I move the laser to the ‘home’ position in the bottom left corner. (Is this incorrect location for the atomstack ‘home’ position?)
I start LIghtburn.
On the ‘move’ tab I select ‘Set Origin’ and ‘Set Finish Position’, because this is the origin of the print and where I want it to return when it completes.
I see the red target appear in the bottom left of the work area window, this is where it should be. When I manually move the laser it moves in the correct directions. With an image file placed in the center of the work area, with a green square associated with it, I hit ‘start’ and the laser moves in the opposite direction …right into the rails.
I have it set to start from ‘User origin’, not sure if this is the best setting for me. Both ‘Home’ and ‘Go To Origin’ never work. From owning many 3d printers I hypothesize that this is because there are no limit switches to communicate where the laser is precisely located upon start.
Second…Are there any limit switch installation tutorials out there for the atomstack a5 pro (I googled and didnt find anything)
I read somewhere else to move the laser to the desired start position then run: G92 X0 Y0
Thanks for the reply! Yes I have that set to the bottom left selection, however, this isn’t what I am referring to. Everything works fine with movement and print start location, however when I press ‘Start’ the laser does not move from the bottom left corner to the middle of the work area, but rather attempts to move inversely, crashing into the rails.
I just got it setup. I think it’s a firmware issue or alternatively somewhere in Lightburn there is an “inverted” XY toggle possibly. I emailed Atomstack…for now I just manually move the laser to the top right and press ‘start’ and it moves to the middle of the work area properly.
Re-read through the posts… I don’t see an issue… yet I know somewhere something is flipping the image. Usually it’s where @LaserWillie pointed out or where I advised you check.
Generally we use the term ‘jog’ or ‘move’ for manual movement via the computer.
You can put the head in the center instead of the front left ‘home’ and make that the home. When you run the job you can see where it’s going to go. You have to be on the power, it will probably run into something but you can tell which quadrant it thinks it’s in. It might be a clue anyway.
Before you change any configuration on a new machine always SAVE the original configuration somewhere you can restore it after you have forgotten what you’ve changed and it’s really broken.
Maybe @LaserWillie can supply a configuration for the machine you can compare to ensure that part of it’s basically correct.
I use “absolute co-ordinates” for all jobs. Before plugging it on or turning it on I make sure the head is in the bottom left spot. Once you plug it in to the laptop and turn it on it will always start from here. To me it sounds like they’re using “user origin” which with these machines you shouldn’t.
They’re trying to write to the board, but as a LightBurn Dev pointed out, they have a finite amount of writing you can do to them so it’s not recommended.
